Reference no: EM132052377

With the Super Bowl now over, you may have heard about "Deflate Gate 2015" where the New England Patriots were accused of underinflating or removing air from footballs to make them more catchable in cold weather. This accusation came about when Indianapolis intercepted a catch thrown by Tom Brady (who, went to Michigan, by the way...) during the AFC Championship game. The investigation of the process of inflating the game footballs revealed that approximately 30 balls are filled indoors at normal room temperature (usually between 65 - 75 °F) to regulation pressure (12.5 to 13.5 psi), 12 balls are chosen by the quarterback, and then the balls are taken to the field. Game day weather conditions vary based on the time of year and the geographic location of the field. The game day conditions the day of the AFC championship were approximately 46 - 52 °F (with the temperature on the lower end of the spectrum at the time of the interception) and rainy. During Deflate Gate, many scientists came out trying to explain to the general public how volume and pressure are related to temperature. You will learn about this in Thermodynamics and you may already have learned the underlying principles in your Chemistry classes.

For an ideal gas (this is an assumption that can be made under certain conditions including low pressure and high volume in which it is assumed that the molecules in a system either do not touch OR their collisions are completely elastic), the pressure, temperature, volume and moles in a system are related by the ideal gas law: